Penetration of Online Media Surpasses Traditional Media for First
Time Among Small-Business Advertisers, According to BIA’s The
Kelsey Group
BIA/Kelsey to present latest findings from Local Commerce Monitor study
at the upcoming Directional Media Strategies 2009 conference, Sept. 22-24 in
Orlando
CHANTILLY, Va. (Aug. 20, 2009) - For the first time, the penetration
of digital/online media has exceeded that of
traditional media among small and medium-sized business advertisers,
according to The Kelsey Group (www.kelseygroup.com),
a division of BIA Advisory Services (www.bia.com).
Findings from the latest wave of BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce
Monitor study, conducted with research partner
ConStat, indicate the penetration of digital/online media increased
from 73 percent in August 2008 to 77 percent in August 2009, while
that of traditional media decreased from 74 percent to 69 percent during
the same period. Penetration is defined as the percentage of SMBs using
a given type of media, irrespective of spending level.
“We have been tracking the trend of digital/online
media replacing traditional media over four waves of the Local Commerce
Monitor study,” said Steve Marshall, director of research, The
Kelsey Group. “The milestone of digital/online surpassing traditional
media among SMBs is an indicator of the broad shift to online platforms.”
Local
Commerce Monitor Wave XIII also revealed a
decrease in overall ad spending by SMBs, owing to unfavorable economic
conditions and the long-term substitution of traditional media with
lower-cost digital/online media. According to the study, SMBs decreased
spending on advertising and promotion by 23.5 percent, from $2,734
(reported in August 2008) to $2,092 (reported in August 2009). As a
percentage of total advertising for the SMBs surveyed, digital/online
has increased from 22 percent to 36.8 percent over the past year. In
spite of the overall decrease in spending on advertising and promotion
over the past 12 months, on average, SMBs increased spending on Web
sites and profile pages by 26.8 percent, from $608 in 2008 to $769
in 2009.
According to the study, there has also been an increase in
the proportion of SMBs that use the Internet
to track or measure their sources of new business leads. Of businesses
that track lead sources, the percentage that does so using the Internet
(clicks or e-mails) has increased from 22 percent in 2008 to 30 percent
in 2009.
The shift
to digital media is among the key themes on
the agenda at BIA/Kelsey’s upcoming conference,
Directional Media Strategies 2009 (DMS ’09) (www.kelseygroup.com/dms2009),
Sept. 22-24, 2009, Orlando, Florida. At DMS ’09, BIA/Kelsey analysts
will present the top-line findings from the latest Local Commerce Monitor.
Attendees will also hear from more than 40 industry experts about the
latest local media technology developments and successful multiplatform
strategies in sessions such as:
The Yellow Pages App Store: Securing
a Mobile Future for Yellow Pages
SEO Success
Strategies for IYPs
Mobile Search and Yellow
Pages: The Business Model
Video — Evolving
a Must-Have Offering
DMS ’09 is The Kelsey Group’s 30th
conference covering the future of the Yellow Pages industry. This year’s
event is presented in partnership with the Yellow Pages Association
(www.ypassociation.org). Conference sponsors, exhibitors and partners
include 3L System Group, Acxiom, AgendiZe, Amdocs, AT&T Advertising
Solutions, Cellcity, Continental Products, International Classified
Media Association (ICMA), Local.com, MapCreator, Marchex, Telmetrics,
Yellow Pages Data Delivery and YP Talk. Visit www.kelseygroup.com/DMS2009
for more information.
About Local Commerce Monitor
Local Commerce Monitor is The Kelsey Group’s
annual tracking survey of small and medium-sized
businesses, conducted with research partner
ConStat since 1999. The survey measures where
SMBs are spending their advertising and promotional
budgets and how their media usage and spending
habits are evolving. Local Commerce Monitor
draws its sample of business respondents from
a mix of nationally scoped MSAs, which include
first- and second-tier markets. Local Commerce
Monitor Wave XIII was conducted in August 2009
via an online survey of 302 SMBs.
About The Kelsey Group
The Kelsey Group (www.kelseygroup.com), a
division of BIA Advisory Services, LLC, is
the leading provider of research, data and
strategic analysis on directories, small-business
advertising, online local media, vertical market
advertising and mobile advertising. As the
premier analyst firm covering the directory
publishing community and the emerging local
search marketplace, The Kelsey Group provides
advisory services (The Kelsey Report®,
Interactive Local Media, Marketplaces and Mobile
Local Media), reports (Global Yellow Pages™),
research and data (Media Ad View, User View
and Local Commerce Monitor), sales training,
consulting (more than 400 individual assignments),
and conferences (76 events).
About BIA Advisory Services, LLC
BIA Advisory Services, LLC, a subsidiary of
BIA Financial Network, provides research, data,
analysis, and financial and strategic consulting
to media, telecommunications, technology, directory
publishing, and local search companies. BIA
Advisory Services includes The Kelsey Group,
experts in traditional and online local media
and advertising; BIA Research, providers of
competitive and comparative market information
and analysis through data services, specialized
reporting, engineering studies and mapping;
and BIA Consulting, specialists in business
intelligence and corporate growth strategy,
and the nation’s leading communications
appraisal and valuation firm. Additional information
is available at www.bia.com. BIA’s blog
is located at http://blog.bia.com/bia and the
company can be found on Twitter through http://twitter.com/BIAfn.
